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Feds on trail of LulzSec raid Ohio house

And Lulzers turn on m_nerva

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The international investigation into the notorious LulzSec hacking crew has moved from the UK to the US Midwest with the search of a house in Hamilton, Ohio by FBI agents.

Feds searched the house without making any arrests – at least initially – according to local media reports (here and here). It is unclear whether intelligence that led to the arrest was secured during the investigation of Ryan Cleary, 19, the British teenager last week charged over denial of service attacks linked to the infamous LulzSec hacking crew.

The Guardian recently published LulzSec's private chat logs, a development that might well have yielded clues to investigators. A dump on PasteBin included supposed names and addresses of two members of LulzSec, nicknamed m_nerva and hann, whom other members of the group blame for the chat-log leak, net security firm Sophos reports. By an amazing coincidence m_nerva's address was in Hamilton, Ohio.

A tweet from the @LulzSec feed indicated that m_nerva had become a hate figure within the group. "Remember this tweet, m_nerva, for I know you'll read it: your cold jail cell will be haunted with our endless laughter. Game over, child," it said.

LulzSec, reckoned to have been formed from a splinter group of as few as six participants that split off from Anonymous, ran a 50-day campaign of mischief and mayhem before calling it quits last weekend. Its targets include FBI affiliated security consultancies, UK police agency SOCA, numerous games publishers and Sony. The group said the decision to disband itself had nothing to do with increased law enforcement attention. ®